Deserved or not, Japan has long had a reputation for its weird vending machines. What do Japanese people think about vending machines in other countries?

[Photo: Hidehiko Sakashita/Getty Images]

By Nevin Thompson2 minute Read

Deserved or not, Japan has long had a reputation for being the home of weird and wacky vending machines. What is not as commonly understood, however, is what Japanese people think about vending machines in other countries.

Russia leads the pack

The first photo of a remarkable vending machine (at least from a Japanese point of view) is from Hitoki Nakagawa, the Vladivostok bureau chief for Asahi Shimbun, a well respected daily newspaper. The machine in his photo sells ultra-expensive caviar:

I’m at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow on my way back to Vladivostok. And what’s before me but a caviar vending machine. While it’s sold out today, there is one super expensive kind worth 20,000 rubles, which based on today’s exchange rate is about 40,000 yen (about U.S. $400). While I’d never feed it to a cat, I wonder if anyone ever buys such luxury goods here.

Caviar vending machines seemed to spark interest among many Japanese social media users. Here, someone else found a machine that sold slightly cheaper products:

A caviar vending machine at the airport in Moscow. The cheapest variety costs 2,000 rubles, about 4,000 yen (approximately U.S. $40). The cans are small, only 5-6 centimeters in diameter. How much for the biggest can, about 10 centimeters across? I forget the price, it was too expensive. (´Д` )